1st Edition

The Laws of the Game A Game Studies Book about Soccer

By Miguel Sicart, Bo Kampmann Walther Copyright 2026
164 Pages 11 Color Illustrations
by CRC Press

164 Pages 11 Color Illustrations
by CRC Press

This book applies theories, methods, and concepts from game studies to soccer. This is a game studies book about soccer that studies the rules and design of soccer and the impact that technology has on the game's evolution. The book comprises nine chapters that approach soccer from different game studies angles. The different chapters study the game off the pitch (the design), on the pitch (the... Read more

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Chapter 1: The Universal Game Around the World

Chapter 2: The Beautiful Rule

Chapter 3: Can Football Be Automated? Data, Intelligence, and Play

Chapter 4: Possibility Space

Chapter 5: The Midfield

Chapter 6: Football is a game of emergence. Or is it?

Chapter 7: Games within the game: football and metagaming

Chapter 8: Dark play

Chapter 9: Platforms

Coda

Bibliography

Index

Biography

Miguel Sicart is a Professor at the IT University of Copenhagen, where he is currently the Head of the Center for Digital Play.

Bo Kampmann Walther is an Associate Professor at the Department of Design, Media, and Educational Science, University of Southern Denmark, Denmark.

"I know video games and I know football, but until I'd read The Laws Of The Game I'd never thought about either of them quite like this before. Viewing the sport through the lens of game design, rather than decades of accrued personal and cultural baggage, let me see football--and the offside law--in a whole new light."

Luke Plunkett, Aston Villa tragic (and co-founder of video game website Aftermath).

"The Laws of the Game is a timely, insightful and incredibly useful book for anyone who wants to better understand how the most popular sport in the world is designed, played and consumed. Sicart and Walther work tirelessly on and off the pitch, both close reading selected key moments of football and providing detailed historical, cultural and economic contexts for their readings. Be careful - reading this book may permanently change how you play, watch and study football."

Olli Sotamaa, Professor of Game Culture Studies, Tampere University.